Petraeus puzzle

Published: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 08:00 AM.

● When did the affair begin and end? It’s been reported that the affair began last year and ended four months ago.

● Did anyone besides Petraeus and his mistress know about it?

● Why did the FBI get involved? The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI investigation began in May when it tracked five to 10 harassing emails that were sent to woman in Tampa who, along with her husband, is friends with Petraeus. Those emails reportedly were traced to Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’ biographer and alleged mistress. By “late summer,” the Journal reported, the email link to Petraeus was established.

In late September and October, the FBI interviewed Petraeus and Broadwell. Both reportedly admitted to the affair. The FBI concluded no laws were broken.

● Who did the FBI inform that it was investigating the CIA director? Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said over the weekend that the FBI should have notified Congress.

The New York Times reported that Rep. David Reichert, R-Wash., received a tip from an FBI employee that there was a national-security issue related to Petraeus. He forwarded the information to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who alerted the FBI in October.

President Obama reportedly learned of the affair only on Thursday morning. After meeting with Petraeus, the CIA director offered to resign. The president took a day to consider it before accepting on Friday, when it was publicly announced.

Many of the news stories and commentaries over the weekend regarding David Petraeus read like obituaries — paeans to a great career and the enormous personal respect he engendered by those who knew him, followed by lament that it all was cut short too early.

In this case, by professional suicide.

Petraeus’ moral failing within the confines of his marriage carried on-the-job risks: directors of intelligence cannot harbor personal secrets that potentially can be exploited by enemies, both foreign and domestic. Federal guidelines (tinyurl.com/av2rjrp) make clear that personal sexual conduct can raise security concerns and disqualify someone from receiving a security clearance. His resignation Friday was warranted.

As are questions about the timeline of the affair.

Some people are eager to leap to conjecture and conclusions, such as trying to tie Petraeus’ resignation to the investigation of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The timing is ripe for conspiracists: Petraeus resigned just days after the presidential election, and less than a week before he was scheduled to testify to Congress about the CIA’s role in Benghazi.

However, if there is any political hay to be made from this, it should happen only after each straw of information is collected and stacked.

The relevant facts that must be established include:

● When did the affair begin and end? It’s been reported that the affair began last year and ended four months ago.

● Did anyone besides Petraeus and his mistress know about it?

● Why did the FBI get involved? The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI investigation began in May when it tracked five to 10 harassing emails that were sent to woman in Tampa who, along with her husband, is friends with Petraeus. Those emails reportedly were traced to Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’ biographer and alleged mistress. By “late summer,” the Journal reported, the email link to Petraeus was established.

In late September and October, the FBI interviewed Petraeus and Broadwell. Both reportedly admitted to the affair. The FBI concluded no laws were broken.

● Who did the FBI inform that it was investigating the CIA director? Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said over the weekend that the FBI should have notified Congress.

The New York Times reported that Rep. David Reichert, R-Wash., received a tip from an FBI employee that there was a national-security issue related to Petraeus. He forwarded the information to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who alerted the FBI in October.

President Obama reportedly learned of the affair only on Thursday morning. After meeting with Petraeus, the CIA director offered to resign. The president took a day to consider it before accepting on Friday, when it was publicly announced.

So far these are broad markers, with many details yet to be filled. Could Congress and the president have been notified earlier? Should they have? Why didn’t Petraeus resign when he knew the FBI was aware of the affair?

Let’s go down this path to unraveling the Petraeus puzzle, but do so one careful step at a time.

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